


It's Magic Time

by spaceumbrellas



Category: X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Still Have Powers, Alternate Universe - Theatre, Brief mentions of other characters - Freeform, I'm sorry the title is a bit misleading, M/M, No Smut, Theatre, Trans Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-10
Updated: 2016-06-10
Packaged: 2018-07-14 07:51:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7161251
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spaceumbrellas/pseuds/spaceumbrellas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's opening night of Much Ado About Nothing, in which Charles Xavier is the stage manager. Even with all the stess of opening night, Charles has to deal with a surprise from an old friend of his.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Magic Time

It’s opening night of Charles Xavier’s first Off-Broadway production, one that is making history. This is the first all-mutant production Off-Broadway and they are presenting _Much Ado About Nothing_. After weeks and weeks of rehearsals, meetings, and late nights, Charles is anxious to see his hard work finally pay off. 

He is pacing backstage, looking for something.

“Have you seen Alex?” Charles asks Armando, the man with whom Alex shares a dressing room.

“I don’t think that he is here yet.” Armando says, barely looking up from his phone.

Charles tries calling Alex, but there is no answer. Even worse, Alex is too far away for Charles to sense him. The anxiety has finally sunk its teeth into his thoughts. What if a set piece falls apart or an actor misses a cue or half the audience leaves during intermission? He walks around the theater to make sure everything is in its rightful place. Everything else is okay, and, finally, Alex arrives 45 minutes before places.

“I’m going to murder you Summers.”

“Sorry, I got held up,” Alex says.

“Call next time. We need you in ready to go in 30.”

“You got it Xavier.”

In the meantime, he talks to some technicians, mostly Hank though. He operates the light board and would be sitting to his right for the duration of the run. To Charles, it’s nice that he has someone in the show that is already one of his friends.

Once the 20 minutes are up, they head to the Green Room downstairs. In this particular company, they have this ritual taking place on opening night. The cast and crew would all hold hands in a circle around a purple candle. They would each go around the circle and say the nickname they had been given during their run in the company. Then, the rest would respond “[Nickname] It’s magic time.”

This may sound like a sacred act that a cult performs. Yet, theatre people tend to be superstitious and rituals thought to ward off bad luck never change. Charles had gotten Professor X, mostly because of the way he dressed. During this ritual, Charles has to bite his lip so that he didn’t laugh, for that would bring on bad luck.

The ritual ends up being laugh-free and it is time for places. Charles, Hank, and Sean, the sound board op walk up to the booth and put on their headsets.

“Lights 2… go,” Charles says once they get settled in.

While he waits for the actual show to begin, Charles scans the crowd for anyone he may know. He knows his sister would be there and he could spot her in the fifth row easily. He is able to see that Alex’s brother Scott is there, along with three of his own friends. Then, he spots a familiar figure walk in the house two minutes before the show would begin. It was none other than Erik Lehnsherr, a man that he had not seen since his sophomore year in college. Fuck.

Charles could not stop his racing thoughts. Why is he here? He knows that Erik does not attend plays or musicals often. There had to be a particular reason that he is here of all places. Erik must have also received a playbill when he walked in too, so he will know that Charles is the stage manager. Charles could not believe that Erik fucking Lehnsherr might walk back into his life.

“Charles,” Sean says. He does not look back at her immediately, so she taps him on the arm. “It is time for the show to begin.”

“Oh, right,” He responds. “Lights 3… go. Standby Spot 1” After Charles calls the cue, Hank sends him a questioning look. Charles ignores it.

The rest of the first act follows this pace. Charles calls out the cues and keeps an eye on ~~Erik~~ the audience. Hank follows his cues. Sean adjusts the sound board to account for discrepancies in the actors’ mics. Everything is goes almost flawlessly.

During the 20 minute intermission, the actors are trying not to yell, but they high-five each other. They did have reason to, for they had a successful First Act

Back on Charles's mind is Erik, as he paces through the entire backstage area to check on everything. He knows he might run into Erik after the show. What the hell is Charles supposed to say to him? Charles had only come out to ~~Erik~~ two weeks before Erik disappeared, so how will he respond to who Charles is now? A keyboard smash seems like a physical manifestation of his thoughts.

The only huge problem that Charles faces is when he walks past the props table. One of the bigger props that is used in Act 2 had been broken, but not completely broken. Thankfully, it only needed a temporary fix that involved duct tape. Though, he would have to talk to the Props Mistress about it the next day. As they finished sorting it out, it is places for Act 2.

Charles made it through Act 2 unscathed. Besides an actor tripping and missing his cue, everything goes off without a hitch. Plus, most of the audience had returned after intermission, easing some of his anxiety. Charles had only called his cues mindlessly. Static and the word “Fuck” have taken up most of his thoughts.

“Lights 239 go,” Charles says. The actors take their bows and exit stage right. The three take their headsets off.

“Good job guys,” he says as they shut down their equipment and gather their things. Hank and Sean started a whole new conversation on the way out of the building. They take the long way so that some of the traffic clears out. Charles is not attentive to what they are saying though.

They have now hit the Back Exit and go their separate ways. Charles’ stomach churns. Erik is talking to Emma, one of the the technicians, about 50 feet outside the door. He slips off to talk to the director since he has to do that before tomorrow before call.

They mostly talked about small hiccups that happened during the show so that they were ready for notes tomorrow.

Charles comes back down to the Back Exit and Erik is now talking to Raven.

“Charles,” she calls out to him and gestures for him to come over. Charles pauses and walks over. He feels like reality is telling him: “Professor X, It’s magic time,” but it feels more ominous than before the show.

“Charles, you didn’t fuck up,” Raven says, grabbing his arm. “Good job.”

“Yes, everything seemed to go along smoothly,” Erik chimes in.

“Erik,” Charles says, not knowing what else to say.

“Hello old friend.” Charles swears that the phrase “old friend” will kill him. Erik still has his looks from college. Actually, he looks the same as he did in college, but his beauty is more elevated and obvious now. He is more chiseled and it accentuates his features in the best way possible.

“I found him here as I was waiting for you,” Raven says. “So Erik was telling me that he is an engineer at a big firm in town.”

“Congratulations,” Charles says.

“It’s long hours, but I like the challenge.”

The few minutes of small talk feels endless to Charles. At least it gives him time to collect himself.

Raven glances down at her phone and smiles slightly. “I have to go,” she says. “It was good to see you Erik.”

“Talk to you later,” Charles says.

“Where the hell were you? he says, now to Erik.

“What?”

“You still have not answered my question. Where did you disappear to?”

“I had to leave”

“You could of called or texted or wrote me or sent smoke signals or just have said something.”

“Charles, you don’t understand.”

“Enlighten me.”

“I had a family emergency and I had to transfer.”

“You still could have something to someone. No one had any idea where you went.”

“I don’t want to talk about it right now”

“Alright,” Charles spits out, trying to convey how salty he is. What Erik had said was a bullshit response, but now is not the time to push further. Though, Charles did not hate him for not giving him a straight answer. Sure, Erik had always been a bit of an asshole, but Erik is _his_ asshole.

“How has your life been?”

“Good. I have made it this far.”

“Do they know about you?” Erik says. His tone is almost softer than before.

“Only Raven, obviously, and Hank, the light board op.”

“Yeah,” Erik says. He pauses for a second. “I can't believe after all these years we still managed to find each other.”

“Yeah.” Another heavy pause falls on them. Charles just has to tell Erik. They could be out of each other's lives in a heartbeat once again. Fuck it.

“To think that I had spent that much time pining after you,” Charles manages to stutter out. He smiles anxiously.

Charles then looks up at Erik, who is looking back at him. Erik is slack jawed and has blown open eyes. He lets go of a large breath.

“So?”

Erik leans in and kisses Charles. It is everything he hoped it would be: soft and sweet. In fact, Erik is a really good kisser.

Charles has fallen completely into the moment, but he is the first to back off of it.

He says “What makes you think I’m single?”

“Raven told me,” Erik responds.

Charles breaks out laughing and Erik follows suit after a moment. “Of course she told you.”

“Hey do you want to come back to my place so that we could catch up,” Erik says.

“Sure.”

They walk to the nearest subway station hand in hand. Once they got on the train, Charles put his head on Erik's shoulder, fighting off sleep. Much to his surprise, Charles felt like no time has passed at all. He still feels safe with Erik and Erik still feels like home. Yet, Charles has not forgiven him, but he wants to. He thought that he did, but since Erik came, it unearths some resentment.

“I like your haircut,” Erik says. “It suits you.”

“Thanks.”

And as they get off at Erik’s stop, Charles can't help but to think: “it's magic time.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! If you have any feedback, please leave it in the comments below. It's been my first work in two years and the first on this account, so it would be much appreciated.


End file.
